Guinea Pig Vestibular Type I Hair Cells Can Show Reversible Shortening

1991 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 241-250
Author(s):  
Pascale N.M. Lapeyre ◽  
Yves Cazals

Guinea pig isolated vestibular type I hair cells (VIHCs) were recently reported by our group to respond to high [KCl] solutions by an irreversible tilt of their neck region and sometimes by a sustained shortening and swelling. A possible osmotic contribution to these shape changes was investigated by substituting gluconate (G) for chloride in the test solution, so as to minimize water influx, and also by changing the osmotic pressure of the extracellular solution. For comparison, similar experiments were also undertaken on cochlear outer hair cells (OHCs). Utricular and ampullar type I hair cells were more difficult to isolate than OHCs and, like them, responded to an isotonic high [KCl] solution by a sustained shortening and widening, which were found to be reversible for most cells when rinsed with the control solution. In a high [KG] solution, all OHCs showed a shortening reversible in the test solution; among the VIHCs tested, two-thirds presented a slight sustained shortening without widening and a third showed a spontaneously reversible shortening, particularly at the neck level. VIHCs exposed to a high [N-methyl-D-glucamine chloride] solution, this impermeant cation replacing K+ for control, presented only a slight sustained shortening. In response to osmotic changes of the bathing medium, both VIHCs and OHCs showed a sustained shortening or elongation (the latter to a lesser degree) for hypo- and hyperosmotic solutions, respectively. The VIHCs and OHCs that presented a reversible shortening in a high [KG] solution widened concomitantly with their shortening, but to a smaller extent compared with what was observed in a high [KCl] solution, and this diameter increase was reversible in the test solution, unlike the widening observed in a hypotonic solution. These results show that a reversible shortening occurred for some VIHCs; they also indicate the involvement of two components in the KCl-induced response: one osmotic and another potassium-dependent.

1990 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 1068-1074 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Nakagawa ◽  
N. Akaike ◽  
T. Kimitsuki ◽  
S. Komune ◽  
T. Arima

1. Electrical and pharmacologic properties of ATP-induced current in outer hair cells isolated from guinea pig cochlea were investigated in the whole-cell recording mode by the use of a conventional patch-clamp technique. 2. Under current-clamp conditions, rapid application of ATP depolarized the outer hair cells resulting in an increase in conductance. The ATP-induced response did not show any desensitization during a continuous application. 3. At a holding potential of -70 mV, the ATP-induced inward current increased in a sigmoidal fashion over the concentration range between 3 microM and 1 mM. The half-maximum concentration (EC50) was 12 microM and the Hill coefficient was 0.93. 4. The ATP-induced current had a reversal potential near 6 mV, which was close to the theoretical value (1 mV) calculated from the Goldman-Hodgkin-Katz equation for permeable intra- and extracellular cations. 5. In the current-voltage (I-V) relationship for the ATP response, a slight inward-going rectification was observed at more positive potentials than the reversal potential. 6. The substitution of extracellular Na+ by equimolar choline+ shifted the reversal potential of the ATP-induced current to more negative values. The substitution of Cs+ in the internal solution by N-methyl-D-glucamine+ (NMG+) shifted it in the positive direction. The reversal potential of ATP-induced current was also shifted to positive values with increasing extracellular Ca2+ concentration. A decrease of intracellular Cl- by gluconate- did not affect the reversal potential, thereby indicating that the ATP-induced current is carried through a large cation channel.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fumiaki Nin ◽  
Samuel Choi ◽  
Takeru Ota ◽  
Zhang Qi ◽  
Hiroshi Hibino

AbstractSound evokes sub-nanoscale vibration within the sensory epithelium. The epithelium contains not only immotile cells but also contractile outer hair cells (OHCs) that actively shrink and elongate synchronously with the sound. However, the in vivo motion of OHCs has remained undetermined. The aim of this work is to perform high-resolution and -accuracy vibrometry in live guinea pigs with an SC-introduced spectral-domain optical coherence tomography system (SD-OCT). In this study, to reveal the effective contribution of SC source in the recording of the low reflective materials with the short total acquisition time, we compare the performances of the SC-introduced SD-OCT (SCSD-OCT) to that of the conventional SD-OCT. As inanimate comparison objects, we record a mirror, a piezo actuator, and glass windows. For the measurements in biological materials, we use in/ex vivo guinea pig cochleae. Our study achieved the optimization of a SD-OCT system for high-resolution in vivo vibrometry in the cochlear sensory epithelium, termed the organ of Corti, in mammalian cochlea. By introducing a supercontinuum (SC) light source and reducing the total acquisition time, we improve the axial resolution and overcome the difficulty in recording the low reflective material in the presence of biological noise. The high power of the SC source enables the system to achieve a spatial resolution of 1.72 ± 0.00 μm on a mirror and reducing the total acquisition time contributes to the high spatial accuracy of sub-nanoscale vibrometry. Our findings reveal the vibrations at the apical/basal region of OHCs and the extracellular matrix, basilar membrane.


1996 ◽  
Vol 101 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 149-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastas P. Nenov ◽  
Charles Norris ◽  
Richard P. Bobbin

1998 ◽  
Vol 1998 (Supplement96) ◽  
pp. 23-30
Author(s):  
Akimitsu Kawai ◽  
Yukihiro Sato ◽  
Takeshi Akisada ◽  
Tsuyoshi Yoshihiro ◽  
Kotaro Take ◽  
...  

1993 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 549-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Hallworth ◽  
B. N. Evans ◽  
P. Dallos

1. The microchamber method was used to examine the motile responses of isolated guinea pig outer hair cells to electrical stimulation. In the microchamber method, an isolated cell is drawn partway into a suction pipette and stimulated transcellularly. The relative position of the cell in the microchamber is referred to as the exclusion fraction. 2. The length changes of the included and excluded segments were compared for constant sinusoidal stimulus amplitude as functions of the exclusion fraction. Both included and excluded segments showed maximal responses when the cell was excluded approximately halfway. Both segments showed smaller or absent responses when the cell was almost fully excluded or almost fully included. 3. When the cell was near to, but not at, the maximum exclusion, the included segment response amplitude was zero, whereas the excluded segment response amplitude was nonzero. In contrast, when the cell was nearly fully included, the excluded segment response amplitude was zero, but the included segment response amplitude was still detectable. A simple model of outer hair cell motility based on these results suggests that the cell has finite-resistance terminations and that the motors are restricted to a region above the nucleus and below its ciliated apex (cuticular plate). 4. The function describing length change as a function of command voltage was measured for each segment as the exclusion fraction was varied. The functions were similar at midrange exclusions (i.e., when the segments were about equal length), showing nonlinearity and saturability. The functions were strikingly different when the segment lengths were different. The effects of exclusion on the voltage to length-change functions suggested that the nonlinearity and saturability are local properties of the motility mechanism. 5. The diameter changes of both segments were examined. The segment diameter changes were always antiphasic to the length changes. This finding implies that the motility mechanism has an active antiphasic diameter component. The diameter change amplitude was a monotonically increasing function of exclusion for the included segment, and a decreasing function for the excluded segment. 6. The voltage to length-change and voltage to diameter-change functions were measured for the same cell and exclusion fraction. The voltage to diameter-change function was smaller in amplitude than the voltage to length-change function. The functions were of opposite polarity to each other, but were otherwise similar in character. Thus it is likely that the same motor mechanism is responsible for both axial and diameter deformations.


1998 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
pp. 2235-2239 ◽  
Author(s):  
John S. Oghalai ◽  
Jeffrey R. Holt ◽  
Takashi Nakagawa ◽  
Thomas M. Jung ◽  
Newton J. Coker ◽  
...  

Oghalai, John S., Jeffrey R. Holt, Takashi Nakagawa, Thomas M. Jung, Newton J. Coker, Herman A. Jenkins, Ruth Anne Eatock, and William E. Brownell. Ionic currents and electromotility in inner ear hair cells from humans. J. Neurophysiol. 79: 2235–2239, 1998. The upright posture and rich vocalizations of primates place demands on their senses of balance and hearing that differ from those of other animals. There is a wealth of behavioral, psychophysical, and CNS measures characterizing these senses in primates, but no prior recordings from their inner ear sensory receptor cells. We harvested human hair cells from patients undergoing surgical removal of life-threatening brain stem tumors and measured their ionic currents and electromotile responses. The hair cells were either isolated or left in situ in their sensory epithelium and investigated using the tight-seal, whole cell technique. We recorded from both type I and type II vestibular hair cells under voltage clamp and found four voltage-dependent currents, each of which has been reported in hair cells of other animals. Cochlear outer hair cells demonstrated electromotility in response to voltage steps like that seen in rodent animal models. Our results reveal many qualitative similarities to hair cells obtained from other animals and justify continued investigations to explore quantitative differences that may be associated with normal or pathological human sensation.


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